More Yummy Russian Orthodoxy

Russian Orthodoxy

Russian ethnicity, culture, and nationalism are identified with Russian
Orthodoxy, the state religion in Russia for almost a thousand years. In
every ethnic Russian there is an Orthodox heritage . . . Russian Orthodoxy
believed that it had solved all the basic problems of belief and worship,
DEFINED for ALL TIME, by its councils. Changes in dogma or even sacred
phraseology could not be tolerated. The Russian sense of community end
egalitarianism also has roots in Orthodoxy. The consensus of the Orthodox
congregation was seen as the truth - a singularity of truth in which there
was no room for a pluralism of opinion. In this idea lie the roots of
Russia's traditional disdain for dissidents - political as well as
religious. Under the Soviets, atheism became the official doctrine, and
the Orthodox Church, with its tradition of submission to state authority,
proved easy to suppress and vulnerable to Communist control. Since 1985,
the severe anti-religious policies of the Stalin years have been reversed.
In 1990 a law on religious freedom was passed, and militant atheism was
dropped from the Communist Party platform. Churches have begun to open.
America, by contrast, has had neither a state church, an official
ideology, nor a single truth. Rather America has known a pluralism of
beliefs and truths and has tolerated, if not encouraged, dissenters from
these beliefs. Church and state have been kept separate. Religion and
ideology have been kept separate from state affairs. Diverse views have
often been welcomed. The very right to be different has been respected. If
Americans have to have an ideology, it is probably pragmatism - if it
works, do it.

Although the 1990 law on religious freedom was passed, the Russian
Orthodox Church has often tried to interpret the freedom as related to the
Russian Orthodox only. Originally other Christian groups were welcomed by
the Orthodox Church to help make religious material and training
available. In recent years the feelings have shifted. The other "sects"
are not seen as legitimate religions. Recent laws have been passed in the
Duma to restrict other religious groups from meeting publicly. Since the
Orthodox Church does have clout with the government, the potential for
excluding other religious groups could become a reality.

-Lucia

http://www.goehner.com/russinfo.htm